Effects of 7?11 cycles adjuvant FOLFOX chemotherapy on the prognosis of patients with stage III colon cancer

Abstract

Adjuvant fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin (FOLFOX) chemotherapy for 6 months is the standard treatment of stage III colon cancer to improve patient survival. Recent studies have shown that restricting the treatment to 3 months to reduce toxicity negatively affects the outcome. However, the effect of FOLFOX treatment for a duration of between 3 and 6 months (7~11 cycles) on survival is not known. The effect of a reduced duration of FOLFOX chemotherapy on the prognosis of stage III colon cancer was examined. The 5-year disease-free survival in patients receiving 7~11 cycles of FOLFOX was lower than those receiving 12 cycles (72.9% vs. 87%, respectively). Patients receiving 7~11 cycles who had a bowel obstruction at diagnosis had a significantly higher recurrence rate (66.7% vs. 15.0%) and shorter median disease-free survival (24.7 months vs. not reached) than those receiving 12 cycles. Among patients receiving 12 cycles of FOLFOX, there was no difference in the outcome between those with and those without intestinal obstructions at diagnosis. These results suggest that the completion of 12 cycles FOLFOX chemotherapy is important to improve the patient's prognosis, especially for with intestinal obstructions at diagnosis.